Creative has been trying to one-up Apple for a while now in the portable digital audio player game. Usually one step behind the iPod with the Zen and Zen Micro, this time they took a step ahead of the iPod photo with the Zen Micro Photo. The device, which is 3.3” tall, offers a high intensity 262K color 1.5” OLED screen and up to 6 GB of storage to hold about 7,500 JPEGs or 3,000 MP3s. The Zen Micro Photo will come in two sizes, a 5GB for $299 and a 6GB for $349. This is a nice alternative for those who held off on the iPod photo because of it’s size and price tag.

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On December 14, 2004 we told you about EA getting an exclusive NFL license. EA has done it again, this time with the AFL. The Arena Football League and Electronics Arts will be producing an AFL video games very soon. Over the next four years, EA and the AFL will be working together to properly market and inform the media of the new AFL games, the first of which will be launched at the start of the 2006 AFL season. What has happened with competition and variety? Seems like these days, its all about getting the license agreements first.

MacDailyNews has an interesting story about this Time article that talks about President Bush’s iPod, and a recent Baltimore Sun article in which Dick Cheny was found to have received an iPod for Christmas. I knew that the iPod craze was huge like wildfire, but apparantly it is the MP3 player of choice for our Commander-in-Chief! I know that I feel better knowing that our President goes to bed at night listening to the soft sounds of Brown-Eyed Girl, like any other American.

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Ubi Soft has released a new trailer of its highly anticipated game, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. The streaming video is available here courtesy of TeamXbox.com. If you prefer to download the trailer, it is available here. If you are not familiar with this title, the following is the story line taken from the official Chaos Theory web site.

“Japan’s creation of an Information Self Defense Force is deemed a violation of international law and of their own Constitution and ignites rising tensions between Japan, China and North Korea. Facing North Korean and Chinese blockades of shipping across the Korea Strait, Japan requests US assistance in accordance with American obligations under Article 9 of the Japanese Post War Constitution.
Mounting evidence gathered by the I-SDF indicates that the devastation of the Japanese economy on the now infamous ‘Black Gold Day’ may have been caused by intentional Information Warfare attacks. As nations begin to mobilize and the United States activates the USS Clarence E Walsh, the world’s premiere Electronic and Information Warfare platform and dispatches her to the region, Third Echelon gets wind of a small and seemingly unrelated incident that may end up having global repercussions…”

The trailer really does a great job at building hype by focusing on the multi player aspects of Ubi Soft’s latest espionage video game. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory will be released March 30, 2005. Be sure to check out. Perhaps I’ll see you online. Or should I say, I’ll see you, but you won’t see me.

UnderGroundOnline has a new list of the Top 50 DVDs of All Time. Each DVD is accompanied by a short description and what is included on the disk or box set that makes it worthy of a spot on this list. Most DVDs on the list are special editions, as well as a few box sets of trilogies and epic films. The best DVDs on the market often include plenty of easter eggs and hidden features, and have extensive special features or bonus disks. If you are a movie buff, check out the list to see if there are any films that have missed your collection!

Check out this image from an Italian Apple fansite. Allegedly, this photo was taken at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. It is a snapshot of MacWorld setup, and apparently is a banner for the soon to be announced iPod flash. It makes sense, especially since it has been speculated that the iPod flash would have no screen, hence, the “random” aspect of the music playing. From the site:

We found a new iPod, probably based on a 1 GB flash memory. Here in San Francisco we have seen people mounting the billboards inside Moscone Center. There were images of the new iPod and a slogan: “Life is random!”. Plus the number of the song: 240. Will it be the next “iPod micro”?

help readers gain referrals for the free electronics which they are trying to work towards. Aside from the forums, we also have our QuickTrade! service which allows users to trade referrals and leave feedback on how things went in a fashion similar to eBay. Many users have had great success earning their free things after joining. We are now approaching 600 active traders on QuickTrade!, which means getting those last few referrals to completing the requirements for the free iPod, TV, gift card, or whatever else you are looking to get has never been easier. Check out some images of how the service looks here.

How would you like to view over 1,000 surveillance cameras over the world? Perhaps maybe you own such a camera. Apparently a simple search on google reveals a list of over 1,000 surveillance cameras over the world. This information has spread over the internet through many web blogs since Thursday. Camera manufactures Axis Communications and Panasonic were not able to be reached for comment on Friday.

The CAN-SPAM Act has been credited with recent gains in the war on spam; however, it is becoming more apparent that the spammers are beginning to employ a new technique that is destabilizing the Internet’s DNS structure. The technique involves sending mass mailings in the middle of the night from a domain that has not yet been registered. After the mailings go out, the spammer registers the domain early the next morning. The spammers are hoping this will minimize their visibility and make it more difficult to track. The problem arises when the DNS servers on the internet attempt to resolve the domain names, since they do not exist, it causes delays and timeouts on the DNS servers and backups in SMTP message queues. This virtually slows down and stops name resolution.

I know that I hate those Apple iPod earbuds because they really hurt my ears (I went out and got a pair of Sony MDR-Q22 clip on headphones for my iPod). Now, Shure has a set of headphones that not only match the iPod, but feel comfortable and fit in your ear to cancel outside noise. The E-series phones aren’t like earbuds because they go directly into your ear canal, creating a seal that blocks outside noise from your ears.

Thanks to devices like the iPod, the portable headphone has seen a recent surge in purchases. Many new models have been released, all with varying degrees of price and need. Items like the buds, clip-ons, traditional, behind the ear, and now the noise-canceling phones have all come within the past several years, and have seen sales increase with the rise of MP3 portable players.